1954: Roger Bannister runs the first sub-4 minute mile in Oxford, England, with a 3:59.4. Not until September 3, 1958 would Derek Ibbotson, world record setter in 1957 with his 3:57.2, run the first 4:00.0 mile.

Happy Birthday to Jason Tunks(1975), Canadian record holder in the discus at 222' 8" and former SMU track and field star. His cow plop tossing records for wet and dry categories, both set outside Abilene, have since been surpassed, but he still holds the record in the frozen category(set in Gimli, Manitoba) and the internationally unrecognized ice-coated, fried, baked, and bagged categories, all set in Plano.

May 9, 1904, the City of Truro is believed to have become the first steam locomotive to exceed 100 mph on a run from Plymouth to London, over 30 years before the Flying Scotsman is officially recorded to do so.

May 11, 1930, is the birthday of Edsger W. Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist and Schlumberger Centennial Chair of Computer Sciences at UT-Austin from 1984 to 2000, whose shortest path algorithm, when using vertices along the envelope of a measured course to a finish line, might facilitate directional guidance in the next generation Garmins.

May 12, 1949, the first convoy and train traffic reach Berlin, the Soviet blockade having been lifted at 12:01 AM. US and British transports had flown over 200,000 flights since late June, 1948, delivering supplies to the citizens of what had been an enemy capital in 1945, averaging 13,000 tons of food alone each day.

Today is Lewis & Clark Day. Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark left St. Louis to find a route to the Pacific Ocean 201 years ago today. They arrived at the Pacific Coast of Oregon in November 1805.

On this date in .......

1856: U.S. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis brought the first camels to America to test as military pack animals. The project was abandoned because the camels wouldn't follow orders and they stunk.